Ecumenical Cinema
Though Jewish, longtime director Henry Koster made movies about Christians that are embraced by believers even today—including The Robe, The Bishop's Wife and A Man Called Peter.
by Eric David | posted 4/03/2007
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As with Christmas, Easter brings certain films that are played (and replayed) on various movie channels. Henry Koster's hilarious Harvey is often among them, partly because of the association of rabbits with the holiday … and who can ever forget Jimmy Stewart's imaginary six-foot rabbit of that classic comedy?
Koster made films that Christians embrace
There's a bit of irony that a Jewish director's film would be associated with a holiday associated with Christ's death and resurrection. But while Harvey has nothing to do with the Christian faith, several of Koster's other films do—including The Bishop's Wife, A Man Called Peter, and The Robe.
So, how did a Jew who lived in Nazi Germany end up making movies embraced by Christians? Let's follow his story …
Grew up in the cinema
Born Herman Kosterlitz in Germany shortly after the turn of the century, Koster grew up in the cinema, literally, as his mother played the piano to accompany the silent films in his uncle's pioneering movie house. Koster cut his teeth as a writer and director working for years at the legendary UFA in Berlin, even making an anti-abortion film for the man who would become Pope Pius, his first foray into religious film subjects.
Koster, as with many Jews in 1930s Germany, was subject to the anti-Semitic zeitgeist of the day. "My parents were not very good Jews," Koster told an interviewer. "I never realized I was Jewish until Hitler came in. That was my luck that I was Jewish. I got to Hollywood, while the others were killed at Stalingrad, the ones who were with me in school."
"Dad had a bad temper," Koster's son, Robert, says, "He was directing a movie in Berlin in 1933 when a Nazi SS officer said some very silly things relating to Dad's family and heritage. Dad knocked him out, and was forced to leave the country during his lunch hour."
Three Smart Girls
Koster signed on with Universal, a studio facing bankruptcy at the time. Despite not knowing a word of English, he molded soprano Deanna Durbin into a child star in his first studio film Three Smart Girls (1936), which, against the studio heads' predictions, proved to be a smash hit, single-handedly saving Universal. Their next picture, One Hundred Men and a Girl (1937), made Universal the top studio again and cemented Koster's position as a musical and comedy director. (It also featured the famous musical conductor Leopold Stokowski as an actor, a role he would replay later in Fantasia.)
Even with his success, Koster was considered an "enemy alien," until he had lived here for five years. He was befriended by actor Charles Laughton, who would come over and read to him in English to teach him about the language.
Koster made four more pictures with Durbin and comedies with other young female stars like Margaret O'Brien.
A light touch
Koster is remembered for his light touch. Without Koster, we might never have known the genius of Abbott and Costello. He discovered them in a New York nightclub and gave them their break in One Night in the Tropics, featuring their famous "Who's On First?" routine.
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